EDITOR WES RAYNAL: These Equinoxes are nice little utes. I'll say it again: This by far is the best small SUV to come out of General Motors, ever. It looks terrific to my eye, and I like the interior, too. The materials are designed well and look good, but there are too many hard plastics. The sliding rear seat is helpful, though, expanding legroom.

There's plenty of power though the Equinox drives heavy, because it is. Why a truck this small has to weigh nearly 4,000 pounds is beyond me. It doesn't feel quite as flingable as some of the other smaller utes such as the Honda CR-V or the Toyota RAV4.

It is, however, nice and quiet on the road and thus feels more refined than some of its competitors. I took this on a quick 300-mile jaunt down to Indiana and must say I wouldn't want to do that trip in anything much smaller than this.